Curaçao Flag Day: Originally inhabited by Arawak (Carribean) peoples, Spain enslaved the whole lot from 1499. Then the Dutch came and used it as a trade centre and for salt mining.

Sephardic (Spanish) Jews emigrated here and impacted local culture. Slavery made the island a rich place for the colonialists, but Holland banned slavery in 1856.

Oil was found in 1914 and helped a lot. In 1954 Curaçao gained self-government under the Netherlands. It wasn’t until 1984 that they decided on a flag and a national anthem. From January 2014 the Lynx rocketplane will do space tourism.